"Card is being produced" delay

New Member

Hope someone can clear up my confusion on this issue. My wife and I received GCs through the lottery. Since then our timeline is:

* March 3 - activated IV and got I551 stamps
* March 29 - returned home to finalise affairs before final move in October
* April 7 - USCIS update both our accounts to say "Card is being produced"
* April 11 - My status changes to "card mailed"
* April 14 - My card is delivered. My wife's account remains as "being produced"
* May 8 - Letter to my wife received requesting biometrics appointment on May 14 in Virginia
* May 11 - After a few unhelpful phone calls we speak to a Tier Two USCIS officer to advise she cannot make the appointment as we are in Australia.

He advised my wife to organise an appointment when we return and her application will be delayed until then.

When we said there was no application as she had the I551 stamp already he said: "that's only temporary. Your permanent Green Card isn't approved yet. It's not guarenteed without biometrics. Your application will expire unless you take action".

Has anyone else had a similar issue? Can the process be stopped after the card has been ordered?

We really can't get back to the US until we make the move in October, so any advice would be gratefully received.

Super Moderator

For some reason, the bio they previously got from your wife wasn’t good enough to be used in producing the GC. So yes, if your wife doesn’t return before the I-551 stamp expires, she will have no means of being re-admitted as a LPR. Even though you already paid for (ordered) the GC, it will not be produced until the new bio gets captured as requested.